During a press conference held yesterday (22 May), USMEF reported on its performance over the first quarter of 2014, outlining some of the key issues impacting foreign markets and provided an overview of how it expects to perform in the remainder of the year.
Joel Haggard, USMEF senior vice president, Asia Pacific, said that China continued to make waves in the international meat market. He said that following record imports of pork, in terms of volumes, by China, "it now looks like it is splaying out on the beef side". He said that in terms of direct imports, from all international sources, China took in almost 300,000 tonnes of pork - an increase of 375% on what they imported in 2012.
"The import surge of beef continued in the first quarter, with imports up 44% year-on-year - Australia, Uruguay and New Zealand benefited from that demand growth," said Haggard. "China also reported an almost 2% increase in beef production last year to 6.7m metric tonnes. It’s hard to believe that demand is growing that strong."
Haggard said on the pork side things had been a little more smooth. He explained that China has its production - up 2.8% on last year - under more control. He said the country had harvested more than 700m head of animals and produced 55m tonnes of pork, while their prices have been very low.
"The US has done very well for the first quarter given our prices and despite very strong European competition and China’s increasing production. Chinese hog prices have surged upwards in recent weeks so we remain optimistic about our exports to China, although we’re predicting growth will be flat, because of the competition from Europe," said Haggard. He added that the USMEF looked forward to more access to Vietnam under the TTP talks.
High US beef prices and increases in US export volume were signs of demand, he said, but the country was not growing as fast as some of its competitors. "Looking at volumes, Brazil was up 18% in first quarter, India up 12% and Australia was up 23% in volume - an indicator of regional demand, but also of competition," he said.
Chairman Mark Jagels said for both beef and pork exports, the value per head slaughtered has never been higher. "In the first quarter we averaged more than $60 per hog slaughtered - 14% higher than the same period a year ago. And for beef, per head for steers and heifers was nearly $255 per head, up 15%. This is the kind of growth that can only be achieved if you’re getting out into each of the markets that see the most value."
Philip Seng, president and chief executive, said beef exports were up 11% in volume and 9% in value over the period. "One of the key markets we’re enjoying at the moment is the Mexican market. The Japanese market is also performing quite well for us - we’re up about 20% in the first quarter," he explained, adding that the Hong Kong/China market was also very strong.
"The future is equally bright when we look at pork, which is up 11% in volume and value. We’re doing very well in Mexico - with exports up around 22%. In Japan there have been some challenges in the past couple of years, but the first quarter has performed very well. We’re seeing considerable growth in the Japanese market and in the South American market," said Seng.
John Brook, USMEF regional director, Europe, Russia and the Middle East, said the US still has market access problems with Saudi Arabia, but there has finally been some movement in terms of talks, so it is hopeful there can be some progression with that market in the near future.